Forged in Foxboro: episode 1

[Real fan 02]

Bingo!!! I said this myself... Bill and Scott were both similar in age to vrabel and Cowden when they came here in 2000.. just funny how things lined up.

@signbabybrady

You have really warmed me up to steff being available week 1.. steff, pop and Williams will be the primary guys at WR.

 

[WazzuWheatfarmer]

Pretty cool stuff. They REALLY wanted Henderson. Glad they got him.

 

[Huckleberry1]

Cam Williams is under the radar big loss here. Guy was integral for the scouting department i have always had big respect for NFL scouts those guys do all the grind work.. for an organization.. and they are the least paid.

One could also take the reductionist approach to Williams and say that he’s just really good at dialing up the phone numbers they ask him to call.

 

[EMpats]

Vrabel is an awesome leader. He just has an infectious style that people gravitate toward. I need to start to temper by excitement for this team.

 

[signbabybrady]

@signbabybrady

You have really warmed me up to steff being available week 1.. steff, pop and Williams will be the primary guys at WR.

We've had a front row seat to him for years and he looks like he's locked in and on a mission.

 

[rochrist]

I strongly disagree but obviously hindsight is 20/20. I just don't see the value in taking a RB that early. No other RB got taken until the tail end of the 2nd. They might have still been able to get him at 58 or they still had talent like Mike Green still available. We aren't 1 player away. Big mistake IMO.

Did you miss the part where the Bears wanted to trade up and take him? There's zero chance he would have been around at 58 and he was by far the best RB option for them.

 

[Huckleberry1]

Great stuff Ross as always. Wolf also has been around this stuff since a kid and was raised in this. I give wolf his props as he's able to do his job much more effectively with Vrabel-Cowden-Streicher...

Good stuff my guy. Cowden was assistant GM under Schoen in NYG.. watching the hard locks with that front office last year's hard knocks episode should have been named hard watch.. cowden was like the only calm demeanor in the series.. he and Vrabel share the same thinking..if u notice in the forged in Foxboro episode Wolf asked.. are you guys ok with that? When selecting i think Williams...

Cowden is in a GM type role.. although Wolf is being paid as a GM according to his title. I feel like all of them work well in unison and it feels like a well oiled operated unlike the past few seasons.

There is zero evidence that Cowden is in a GM role.

 

[irishfanatic]

This is to a large degree just my personal situation with my fandom, but what the hell I will share anyhow. Of all my relatives living in Boston, I had two brothers in law who I kept constant contact with on all things Patriots since the mid 90's.
One sadly passed in 2016 to Big C and only in his fifties. Last year,the second guy also passed to the same ****er of a disease. He was also in his fifties. With that, and the disastrous Mayo experience, I must say my interest was waning somewhat.
However, No 50 has rekindled my interest and I shall dutifully follow whilst chatting to my lost buddies.
Thought I would like to share, as although a lurker, I have been here a long time.
As always, GO PATS

 

[Real fan 02]

There is zero evidence that Cowden is in a GM role.

Vice president of player personnel sounds like a GM like role to me! He works with wolf.

 

[Real fan 02]

We've had a front row seat to him for years and he looks like he's locked in and on a mission.

 

[Huckleberry1]

Vice president of player personnel sounds like a GM like role to me! He works with wolf.

Wolf’s title is Executive Vice President of Player Personnel. Technically he’s the highest ranking person in the organization that isn’t a Kraft. But the reality is that Wolf’s job is to help Vrabel build the team he’s trying to build, and he defers final decisions to Vrabel because he has said that he “isn’t going to force anyone on him.” Cowden is Vrabel’s guy, and he could have more influence on decisions than Wolf as such, but we don’t know that. And Cowden is not Wolf’s boss, and you made it sound as if he was.

 

[SlowGettingUp]

@signbabybrady

Diggs is absolutely driven. And when WR1 on your team works as hard as he does, it trickles down to the rest of the receiver room too. He's not just going to teach them stuff about the subtleties of route running and film study, he's going to inspire them to work harder too. We might have overpaid a bit, but I predict he'll absolutely be worth it.

 

[Real fan 02]

Diggs is absolutely driven. And when WR1 on your team works as hard as he does, it trickles down to the rest of the receiver room too. He's not just going to teach them stuff about the subtleties of route running and film study, he's going to inspire them to work harder too. We might have overpaid a bit, but I predict he'll absolutely be worth it.

Agreed and another power move by Vrabel. He knows full well about what Stef can do even at 31 coming off an ACL he's our #1.. Vrabel knows it and DCs know it. Vrabel gave him the contract out off respect for him as a player and because of all the things you mentioned. Building a contender takes moves like this. Guys will absolutely be more detailed and sound now.

 

[Real fan 02]

Wolf’s title is Executive Vice President of Player Personnel. Technically he’s the highest ranking person in the organization that isn’t a Kraft. But the reality is that Wolf’s job is to help Vrabel build the team he’s trying to build, and he defers final decisions to Vrabel because he has said that he “isn’t going to force anyone on him.” Cowden is Vrabel’s guy, and he could have more influence on decisions than Wolf as such, but we don’t know that. And Cowden is not Wolf’s boss, and you made it sound as if he was.

Agreed. I don't know that Wolf's the highest ranking not named Kraft as there are others in the Kraft family that hold positions like Jonathan for example. But yes, Cowden is Vrabel's guy and Cowden left an assistant GM role to come here. He's got an important job as does Wolf. They work together well and that's what matters most. I'm happy that Vrabel and his staff can allow Wolf's job to be much easier. It's just a much smoother and much more fluent operation than the past few seasons.

 

[Water Boy]

The other was that during the draft it didn’t look like they were sitting there debating which player to pick at any given spot, but more like they had targeted certain players at each pick, and the decision was made to take them if they were there, and their guys kept falling to them. Especially the Williams, Woodson, and Farmer picks, which looked the decision was made well before the pick even came up.

It's such a refreshing change to have a draft strategy that accounts for where players are likely to go off the board (Tavon Wilson, Jordan Richards, 4th round kickers, cough, cough.)

 

[Huckleberry1]

Diggs is absolutely driven. And when WR1 on your team works as hard as he does, it trickles down to the rest of the receiver room too. He's not just going to teach them stuff about the subtleties of route running and film study, he's going to inspire them to work harder too. We might have overpaid a bit, but I predict he'll absolutely be worth it.

The 2 units on the team that probably needed a culture change more than any others were OL and WR. Bourne had a cryptic statement about the attitude in the receiving room implying the young guys weren’t interested in advice, and the OL desperately needed leadership, and it just wasn’t there. I think the additions of Moses and Campbell will provide leadership and intensity for the OL room, and adding Diggs and Williams will do the same in the WR room. And this year both rooms will have intense competition for roster spots, which will ratchet up the stakes for both rooms.

 

[Huckleberry1]

It's such a refreshing change to have a draft strategy that accounts for where players are likely to go off the board (Tavon Wilson, Jordan Richards, 4th round kickers, cough, cough.)

I think this is where Wolf’s grading system played the biggest role. I think he had an accurate reading of how the entire draft was going to fall, even to the point where they were comfortable letting Larison and Chism hit UDFA. And it allowed them to systematically go after the guys they targeted for each draft position. Obviously there’s some luck involved there as well, because they can’t be sure how every team is reading the draft, but it’s pretty safe to say now that the Patriots largely got the guys they wanted out of this draft.

 

[TommyD4207]

Wolf does not have the GM title so teams can go after him. Let's hope Wolf gets poached - you must have missed last year's draft when Wolf was in charge.

I did watch the draft portion of the video pretty closely.

That was a Cowden/Vrabel/Highsmith joint. Elliot Wolf was there to make phone calls.

 

[Real fan 02]

I think this is where Wolf’s grading system played the biggest role. I think he had an accurate reading of how the entire draft was going to fall, even to the point where they were comfortable letting Larison and Chism hit UDFA. And it allowed them to systematically go after the guys they targeted for each draft position. Obviously there’s some luck involved there as well, because they can’t be sure how every team is reading the draft, but it’s pretty safe to say now that the Patriots largely got the guys they wanted out of this draft.

I commend Cam Williams and his staff for doing all the grunt work and digging to provide to wolf, and cowden in order for them to perform thier grading systems. NFL scouts are so undervalued. It's amazing what happens when you don't ignore the scouting reports.

 

[Real fan 02]

I did watch the draft portion of the video pretty closely.

That was a Cowden/Vrabel/Highsmith joint. Elliot Wolf was there to make phone calls.

Bingo!! Glad to see someone point this out! Vrabel Cowden are running ****!